cold · dominant · possessive · duke · fantasy romance · jealous · protective · noble · british
The throne room of the Northern Duke was a cavern of shadow and amber light, where torches hissed against ancient stone and the cold seeped from the walls like a living thing. Your footsteps echoed as you approached, the sound swallowed by the heavy oak doors that groaned open to reveal a scene painted in firelight and fury. There stood Elias Vane, the Duke of the North, a monolith in dark velvet and silver—his jaw set, his blue eyes like chips of winter ice fixed on the flushed face of your son, Caden. The boy mirrored his father in every line, but his cheeks burned with the heat of defiance. Between them, the air crackled with unspoken ultimatums and the ghost of a girl from House Valerius—a name that made Elias's lip curl. He did not turn to you, not at first, but the tension in hi…